


When Night Attacks

by anxious_soul



Series: Tony Stark-Centric Series [86]
Category: The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Ambushes and Sneak Attacks, Angst and Hurt/Comfort, Angst with a Happy Ending, Avengers Family, BAMF Tony Stark, Blood and Injury, Domestic Avengers, Fist Fights, Gen, Hurt Tony Stark, I'm Bad At Summaries, I'm Bad At Tagging, I'm Bad At Titles, Major Character Injury, Self-Defense, Sleep Deprivation, Somewhere, Steve Rogers & Tony Stark Friendship, Strangulation, Tony just wanted to get some sleep for once, bad things happen tropes, tony stark isn't weak out of the suit
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-21
Updated: 2020-08-21
Packaged: 2021-03-06 22:40:11
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,507
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26026600
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/anxious_soul/pseuds/anxious_soul
Summary: In which Tony finally decides to get some sleep and someone chooses to disturb him.
Series: Tony Stark-Centric Series [86]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1126895
Comments: 33
Kudos: 195





	When Night Attacks

**Author's Note:**

> I'm trying something new, I've kind of made myself a list of Bad Things Happen prompts that I 'like' and will try to write; it'll more or less be alphabetical unless I'm skipping a letter and some fics may have multiple prompts (of the same letter) mixed together. This is in no way related to the bingo cards, except I am using the tropes found on their site, though it should be mentioned that they don't technically own the prompts. 
> 
> Bad Things Happen Prompt: A -Attacked in Their Sleep.
> 
> Oh before I get too invested in this mini-series, I'd appreciate it if someone told me if they'd actually like me to continue writing angsty Tony fics; I've already written up a second instalment, but if it's not wanted, I can post that and call it quits I suppose...

I t was unusual for him to go to sleep, but Tony had finally relented (the nagging of the Avengers proving too tiresome and only adding to his exhaustion). Tony collapsed onto his bed and immediately fell into a much-needed sleep, which was why he hadn’t noticed that JARVIS was offline. Of course, the one night Tony _really_ should _not_ have fallen asleep, he did. 

**——LINE BREAK——**

At first, the genius had no clue what had woken him. The room was pitch black and he had only been asleep for a few hours; his sleep had been dreamless, so he couldn’t even blame nightmares for once. 

It became apparent what had woken him within seconds though, as he found himself unable to move with a weight far too hard and heavy to be a duvet on him; then there was a hand wrapped around his neck. Someone was straddling him to strangle him.

Choking and spluttering, Tony tried to buck the man (he could tell it was a male) off of him; his oxygen-deprived brain desperately tried to remember the tactic Steve went through in the self-defence training sessions the blond forced Tony to go to out of the suit. 

Somehow, he managed to catch the man by surprise as he reached out and grabbed hold of the first item his hand touched; he managed to pick up the lamp from his bedside table and hastily smashed it around the man’s head. He was instantly dislodged from Tony, who scrambled away and made a hasty break for the door. His fingers brushed against the door handle just as he was tackled to the floor; landing with a startled cry, Tony tried once more to get away from the mad man.

All he succeeded at doing was getting trapped with the man clad in black straddling him again, this time his hands were stuck to his sides with his captor’s knees keeping them from being able to move. Despite the darkness, Tony saw the man grinning down at him.

“Give it up, Stark,” he growled, “you’re weak outside of the suit,”

_“You’re not weak out of the suit, Tony, you’ve said it yourself hundreds of times that you and the suit are one,”_ the words sprung to his mind and Tony found himself remembering Steve telling it to him; it was when the blond had approached him about learning self-defence outside of the suit. At his captor’s words and the remembrance of Steve’s, energy seemed to fill Tony’s bones and he struggled once more only he was calmer and more focused than before when desperation and fear controlled his body.

**——LINE BREAK——**

The shorter man managed to catch his opponent off guard once again as he escaped from his clutches with a bit of foul play. Punches flew and Tony had to admit that as helpful as Steve’s training was in that moment, the man in front of him was a giant in comparison and he had the upper hand; Tony was still disorientated from having just woken up and from being strangled.

“Perhaps I was wrong,” 

“Who are you?” Tony asked panting as he ignored the other man, 

“Who I am is not important,” was the only response he got and the fighting continued. 

There were moments where Tony landed a good hit on the man and managed to inch closer to the door and his hopeful escape, but those moments were fleeting in comparison to the other man landing punches on Tony and keeping him from the door. 

Bloody and bruised, Tony quickly found himself struggling to stand but with a lucky punch, he was able to get the larger man away from him, knocking him far enough away and hard enough that he could get through his bedroom door at last. He rushed to the stairs, perhaps he was too injured to really take them, but it beat being stuck in the elevator. Running as quickly as his beaten body would let him, Tony reached Steve’s floor. He was so close to getting help that he didn’t even notice his enemy gaining on him until he came face to face with the wall. 

He was inches away from the blond’s bedroom; opening his mouth, he tried to shout for help, but the man holding him quickly shoved his hand against Tony’s mouth, pinching his nose almost teasingly before he began to drag the struggling genius away. Muffled cries pushed against the hand blocking his lips.

“Shut it,” the man hissed sounding far angrier than he had earlier, which made Tony think that before in the bedroom, it had been the man’s version of foreplay, he was right, “we’ve had our fun, but I came here to kill you and that’s what I’ll be doing now.” 

**——LINE BREAK——**

Exhaustion had consumed him and his adrenaline vanished as his struggles ceased and he gave in. Tony had no clue where he was being led, all he knew was that he had failed and unless _somehow_ someone in his tower of superheroes had realised there was a problem, he was a dead man walking. 

They came to a stop and Tony realised that the man holding him was waiting for the elevator. There was a ding and the genius could have sworn that he heard another sound that did _not_ belong to the machine. Another sound hit his ears, Tony must’ve hit his head as he couldn’t see anyone coming to his rescue; he was desperate and it was making him delusional.

“Let him go,” or perhaps he wasn’t delusional and there stood Steve with his shield that shone in the moonlight and his Captain America PJ t-shirt and boxer shorts that Tony had bought him as a joke for Christmas… well, it was nice to know his gifts were at least used. Plus at least if he died, the amusing image before him would be the last thing he saw and honestly, Tony had no problem with that. 

“What are you going to do? Throw your little shield and risk hurting your precious Stark?” Snarked the man clad in black as he held Tony tightly against his chest, finally removing the hand covering his mouth, though Tony had preferred the hand to the knife that was now held to his throat. 

Even though the hallway was pitch black, Tony still found Steve’s eyes and he could see the worry in the blue orbs, whilst the blond no doubt noticed the terror in Tony’s cinnamon eyes.

**——LINE BREAK——**

In spite of the knife against his throat, Tony made a rash decision as the trio fell into a standoff; stomping harshly on the man’s foot, the genius threw his head backwards and smashed it against his captor’s nose. The knife slid ever so slightly, nicking him in the process, but he still managed to stumble away and into Steve’s arms.

Before the man could attack, he fell to the floor shaking and Natasha became visible from where she had stood behind him; she had shocked him with her Widow Bites. Only then, once the man had fallen unconscious, did Tony relax and allow himself to pass out; faintly, he heard a voice call out to him as arms caught him before he could hit the ground. 

**——LINE BREAK——**

“Hey,” was the first thing Tony heard as he came to, his eyes slowly fluttering open to reveal Steve sitting next to him with a soft smile, “how do you feel?”

“Like shit,” Tony croaked, listening to Steve’s slight chuckle,

“Do you remember what happened?”

“Faintly... who was he?”

“Just some lunatic,” Clint stated making his presence known and Tony turned his head to find the archer sitting on top of a table spinning an arrow around with his fingers.

“Ignore him,” Steve murmured bringing Tony’sattention back to him, “you did a good job on him, Tony,” 

“Really?” Steve smiled despite the genius’ uncertainty and nodded as he reached out to grab Tony’s hand comfortingly,

“Yes. You really proved yourself and I’m proud of you, Tony,” a blush fell over the bruises and cuts on the genius’ face as he smiled shyly,

“Thank you.”

Steve explained to Tony that when the genius got onto his floor and slammed into the wall, it had woken the blond and he, upon realising that JARVIS was offline, sent out a silent alarm to the rest of the team. That was how Natasha had known to sneak up behind the mad man. Tony expressed his gratitude before taking it back as Bruce read out his diagnosis: a sprained arm, broken leg, a multitude of cuts that had required stitches, and a torso that was black and blue from bruises along with a broken rib and bruised throat. He was informed that he was on bed rest for the foreseeable future and had to be careful talking due to the damage from the strangling. 

In spite of being attacked in his sleep, Tony healed quickly and still managed to catch up on his wayward sleep.

**Author's Note:**

> [My tumblr](https://anxious---soul.tumblr.com) feel free to say hi or something!  
> 
> 
> Anyway,  
> Thank you for reading,  
> Hope you enjoyed this,  
> Please leave a kudos and a comment  
> 


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